{ Our Love Story }

As I've been planning our wedding, I found the cutest idea on Pinterest. I'm obsessed, btw. I've gotten SO many great wedding planning ideas on Pinterest. Here's the link to my boards if you want to follow me for more wedding ideas.  

 How cute is this?! A sign displayed at your reception with a timeline of your relationship. 

PC: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexlovesny/30-swoon-worthy-engagement-party-ideas-ioyl#.tb1lzpGJG 

With this idea in mind, I wanted to share our love story. Here's the backstory first. I moved to Provo from Salt Lake to go to Utah Valley University in the fall of last year. I was so not looking forward to leaving my friends, my nanny job that I loved and the city. But, I knew it was a smart choice to go back to school and finish my degree. I was fortunate to have a job lined up before I moved and found housing quickly.

I had a gym membership in Salt Lake and was considering just canceling it when I moved and trying out a new gym in Provo. But, I decided I should, at least, go to the local branch in Orem and check it out before canceling my membership. And boy, am I glad I did. 

After going to the gym several times, I noticed the cute trainer at the gym. He was so good-looking. Tall, muscular, piercing blue eyes, the cutest dimples and a great bod! There was something about him that intrigued me. I found myself going to the gym more and more, and found myself scanning the gym for him every time I was there. 

After several months of just watching him from across the gym, sounds like I was a bit of a stalker doesnt it? haha. Anyway, after several months of crushing on him from afar, my gf scolded me for not being more bold and just going over to talk to him. Normally, I'd have no problem doing that. But, there was something about him that made me so nervous and intimidated. Little did I know, Cole was doing the same thing. He was crushing on me as long as I had been crushing on him. We'd often catch eyes as I was leaving and we bumped into each other several times but had never really talked. Cole told me later that he was sure I was taken, so he didn't approach me. 

January 6, 2015-I finally gathered up the courage to talk to him. We sat and talked fitness stuff for awhile. I remember that I could barely get my words out, I was so nervous. I was just drowning in his icy blue eyes. I was smitten, for sure. It was pretty much love at first sight for me. 

January 8-Cole came up to me while I was doing my cardio. He was off his shift and asked if I wanted to work out with him. We spent about two hours working out, and we just clicked right away. It felt like a first date. We talked about everything from our childhoods, our families, our jobs and friends, etc. After our workout, he told me that he sometimes texts his clients workouts if they cant come in while he's on shift and handed me his number. Smooth, right? 

January 12- Our first DATE. After another workout together, Cole asked if I wanted to go grab food. We went out to my car to put my gym bag away and I locked my keys in my car. Classic Natalie thing to do. So, we sat in his car to keep warm and he called a cop friend of his to have him come open my car. After an hour or so, we got the keys out and then, grabbed Cafe Rio and took it back to my condo to eat. We stayed up really late talking and I remember Cole saying something along the lines of him wanting me to give him a chance  because of our big age gap. Im so glad I did because he's changed my life for the better in so many ways. We've been inseparable since our first date.  

January 13- Our first KISS. It was perfect. 

January 26- OFFICIAL- after I went on weekend trip home to Ca, Cole asked me to be his gf. Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder! 

Feb - August - LOVE- a blur of fun, planned and spontaneous dates, working out more than I ever have, a cruise to Mexico, late night talks about everything and anything, netflix marathons, eating our weight in oreos and snowcones, trips to Ca to meet my family..... we fell in love like you fall asleep, slowly and then, all at once.

August 1, 2015 -he asked me to spend forever with him 

April 30, 2016 -Our Forever Begins! 

 

[ Lovebirds at Snowbird ]

This weekend, Cole and I went with his family to Snowbird Ski resort for a weekend getaway. His family has a timeshare up at the Iron Blosom Lodge on the resort and every year, they all go stay up there for a few days. I had never been there before and was blown away by how gorgeous the resort is. The resort is tucked away up Little Cottonwood Canyon, near Sandy.  It was such a nice little, relaxing spot hidden in the mountains. 

The room we stayed in had a kitchen, two beds and a private balcony and there was plenty of space to have everyone over. The mountain views from our balcony were UN-real. I love the mountains, but being from California, I have always been partial to coastal, beach landscapes. Let me tell you, it was so gorgeous up there that I totally get why people would want a timeshare up there. It was a lil' slice of mountain heaven. We had such a great time just being with family and, of course, being together and making more memories. We played some fun games, had amazing meals all together as a family and walked around the resort's lil shopping area. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful future in-laws who have opened their hearts and welcomed me into their family with nothing but love and support for Cole and I. Hope you all had a great weekend! Xoxo

[ my wedding dress ]

OMG! I can barely contain my excitement! My wedding dress came in 2 months ahead of schedule. I ordered it several weeks ago, and was told that it was going to arriving around mid-December. But, I got a call saying it came way earlier than expected. Im not complaining tho! 

I made Cole come with me and he sat in the car and waited, of course, while I went and tried it on at The Bride's Shop in downtown Salt Lake. All the consultants who have helped me made this such an easy and wonderful process. Being in the bridal industry, myself, I know how nerve-wracking choosing a wedding dress can be. So, I am very grateful to the girls at The Bride's Shop for their help. We made sure that the dress is the right size and that everything looks ok, initially. I still have to do alterations to take it in certain places and get it hemmed. Im planning on wearing heels, but Im so tiny that I'll have to take a lot of the hem.

So Im not going to post pictures, but I will say that it is from Sottero and Midgley's Fall 2015 line and it is all drama, drama, DRAMA. I needed a WOW dress and this, for sure, has that wow factor I was looking for. I cannot wait to wear it and see Cole's reaction! Having my dress makes it feel more real and I cannot believe how lucky I am. April 30 cant come soon enough! 

{ Our Engagement Photos }

A few weeks back, Cole and I took our engagement photos. A lil early, I know. But I didnt want our photos to be super fall looking or worse, have it snowing. YUCK! I hate the snow. Utah weather can be unpredictable during the winter and early spring months, I figured the sooner, the better. My mom also brought up how funny it would look to send out fall or winter-y engagement pictures with a spring wedding invitation. So we got them done and let me tell you, Aubrey Taiese is SO talented. She shot my girlfriend's wedding back in May and I just loved her so much. When we got engaged I knew I wanted her to do our wedding. We went up to Silver Lake, up big cottonwood Canyon and the location was incredibly beautiful. She was so easy to work with and was great at posing us. The leaves and trees all around us were just starting to go golden and the lighting was amazing!

Here are several of our favorites. Poor Cole was feeling feverish the whole time. He was such a trooper through it all. I seriously was dyingggg when Aubrey sent these over to us! I love being in love with him. 

my favorite place to be is together.

 PC: Aubreytaiese.com 

{ The Proposal }

When I posted our engagement announcement on FB, I wrote a quick summary of how Cole asked me to marry him. But, I was given great advice from one of my girlfriends, who advised me to write it all down-Everything I can remember and how I felt. Because years from now, time will fade those memories and I want to be able to look back and recall this amazing night. 

First of all, my mom had been given my great-grandmother's diamond ring, who is also my namesake, and she had been waiting to give it to me when I met "the one". This made my ring so incredibly special to me and my mom. I took Cole to California over the summer to celebrate my birthday and to meet my family. While we were there, Cole asked my parents for their permission and blessing. Such an old-school tradition but, I knew my parents would appreciate it. 

So, we came back from California with their blessing and my ring! I was beyond excited. It needed some repair work done, naturally, being from 1915 or so. Upon getting back to Utah, we immediately took my ring to Cole's uncle, who works at a local jeweler here.

For the following weeks, Cole told me multiple stories to throw me off, like his uncle called and said it wouldnt be ready for a month or so yadi-yada. He was so good at throwing me off on the timing of the proposal. Even faking a fight with his Aunt about her not ordering something he asked her to and being all upset about how that was throwing off the date he wanted to propose. So funny looking back now and realizing these were all little lies he was telling so that I had NO idea when it was happening. 

The day of the proposal ended up being the most perfect day. I had spent the night with one of my best friends up in SLC. We had a super fun girls night! We went to dinner at one of our fav spots, painted our nails and watched a chick flick. I had made several appointments at local bridal shops the next day to try on dresses. I was PRACTICALLY engaged right?! So we went dress shopping and spent a lovely day together. Little did I know that Cole had called her and filled her in that he was proposing that night. He made sure that my bff had me paint my nails the night before because he knew how important that was to me, that my nails were, at least, painted. Hes so perfect, right?! He is unreal, sometimes.

The night of the proposal, Cole and I had been planning on visiting his family who was "visiting from out of town" for s'mores and a movie. NOT the truth. His whole family was in on this lil secret. The whole drive up to his aunt's cabin at Sundance, he is going over names and the last time he saw them, etc. We pull up to the cabin and there are lights strung up everywhere, which I didnt think anything of. I get out of the car and we start walking over and I still didnt put two and two together! There was a lil pathway of stairs leading down and over a bridge, which Cole had lined with lil lumineers. It wasnt until we were down two or three steps and I saw the bridge was covered with lights and a canopy was set up on the patio and saw of one his best friends, Sky with a camera that it finally hit me. I looked at him and gasped, OH WAIT! THIS IS FOR ME!! 

We walked under the canopy which was covered in lights and balloons that each had pictures of us hanging from them. He took my hands and said some amazing things that made us both tear up and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. As soon as I said yes and we kissed, his whole family came spilling out of the cabin to congratulate us. They all had helped decorate and made this a night I will never forget. there was even candy "S'mores" to keep the charade going of the lie about S'mores with the family. I was so surprised and it was everything Ive ever dreamed this moment would be like. Dream proposal to my dream man! 

New blog! 

Hi friends, 

As many of you know, I started a blog during my time in Europe, several years ago. It was a great way to document my travels and adventures and share them with all my loved ones.

I've decided to start a new blog now. So many exciting things are happening in my life and I wanted to have a way to share news and updates. I used to keep journals and have missed having a way to document special events and memories. 

Here's a quick recap. I've been living in Utah now for the past three years. I lived in Salt Lake for a year and a half and then, moved further south to the Provo/Orem area for school. I'm working towards my degree in Psychology at Utah Valley University. I was reluctant to make this move from SLC for many reasons, but it turned out to be the best decision I've made. I met the love of my life here. Cole.Monroe.Odle. 

                                                             this was taken on our sencond date, back in January